An official in the Syrian Coalition said that the international community’s response the massacres being committed against civilians in eastern Ghouta "has been largely lukewarm and does not correspond with the size of the bloodshed in the Damascus suburb. He warned that these lukewarm positions risk encouraging the Assad regime and its allies to repeat the tragedy of Aleppo.

Member of the Coalition’s political committee Safwan Jandali said that "the positions and statements recently issued by European and UN officials in response to the recent developments in eastern Ghouta and which did not explicitly condemn the Assad regime "will fall short of stopping the killing of innocent civilians or deterring the murderous Assad regime.”

Jandali added that "these statements are of limited impact and does not correspond to the level of bloodshed in eastern Ghouta." He called on the international community to take “more effective and urgent measures to force the Assad regime to stop its crimes."

The EU’s High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides called on the international community to unite to stop the human suffering in eastern Ghouta.

“The European Union calls on all parties to the conflict, as well as the guarantors of the four De-Escalation Areas, to take all necessary measures to ensure the decrease of violence, the protection of the Syrian people by respecting International Humanitarian Law, and urgent humanitarian access,” Stylianides said in a statement Monday.

"The recent escalation of violence compounds an already precarious humanitarian situation," Panos Moumtzis, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The humanitarian situation of civilians in East Ghouta is spiraling out of control. It's imperative to end this senseless human suffering now. Such targeting of innocent civilians and infrastructure must stop now."

Deputy UN envoy to Syria Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi warned that the continuation of fighting in Syria risks enabling terrorist groups to reorganize and re-mobilize their forces.

"Even in the ‘de-escalation zones’ we observe the continuation of heavy fighting," Ramzi said, noting that around 1,000 civilians were killed during the first week of February alone.

Eastern Ghouta has been subjected to intensifying attacks by regime forces and their allies which compounded the suffering of civilians resulting from the siege imposed on the area for over five years. International watchdog groups confirmed that these attacks constitute war crimes. (Source: Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)

The Syrian Coalition stressed that the military escalation in many areas across Syria, especially in eastern Ghouta is clearly aimed at undermining all chances of reaching a political solution. It stressed that there is no denying the fact that Russia wants to bury the UN-led political process altogether.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, the Coalition said that Russia wants to finish off the UN-led political process, especially after it announced that it supplied regime forces with new sophisticated weapons to use them in the ongoing onslaught on eastern Ghouta.

“The onslaught on eastern Ghouta represents a dangerous escalation, with the Assad regime and the Russian occupation aircraft launching over 70 airstrikes and dropping 25 barrel bombs as well as targeting residential neighborhoods with more than 150 Grad rockets, six surface-to-surface missiles, and a barrage of artillery fire,” the Coalition said.

The Coalition emphasized that “the latest developments are more than enough to alarm sponsors of the political solution who are watching idly by. They must also draw the attention of the countries claiming to stand on the side of the Syrian people and requires immediate, firm stances from these countries.”

“The genocidal war and barbaric aggression would not have taken place against people of eastern Ghouta had it not been for the silence of the international community and sponsors of the political solution. This silence represents a green light encouraging the Assad regime and its allies to carry on with these atrocious crimes. The international community’s choosing to watch idly by makes it a partner in the aggression on the Syrian people.”

The Coalition warned all members of the international community of the direct consequences of their continued silence and inaction, chiefly among them is the undermining of all chances of reaching a political solution in Syria.”

The Coalition called upon the UN Security Council to take urgent, serious action to protect 400,000 civilians who have been trapped for five years in eastern Ghouta and to act in accordance with its legal, political and moral responsibilities.

The Assad regime, backed by the Russian occupation forces and Iranian militias, has unleashed a large-scale terrorist ground attack on the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta. Airstrikes killed at least 115 people in the past two days while dozens went missing. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)